Wearable Power Supply Design Contest

The Department of Defense wants to lighten the power supply load that soldiers carry to power various electronic devices from 40 pounds to under 9 pounds. To achieve that goal DoD has opened a "wearable power supply" design challenge to the public. That means that you, or you and a group of friend, can compete withh the big boys . They are offering a $1 million prize for 1st place, $500,000 for 2nd place, and $250,000 for 3rd place.

They will award prizes to the top three teams or individuals in a final competitive demonstration planned for fall 2008. To be in the running for the top prizes, your power system must produce 20 Watts average power continuouslty for 96 hours while weighing less than 4 kilograms.

You can obtain registration information online at www.dod.mil/ddre/prize/ . Registration closes November 30, 2007.

IEEE SoutheastCon 2008 Call for Papers

The website for IEEE Southeast Conference 2008 is now online at http://ewh.ieee.org/reg/3/secon/08/, and the website for technical paper submission is https://www.softconf.com/starts/secon08/. You will find instructions for technical paper submission at http://ewh.ieee.org/reg/3/secon/08/technical.html. Submission of full-length papers for review is due by November 16, 2007. Submission of extended abstracts of non-reviewed papers is due by November 30, 2007.

Invitation to tour Tennessee Marble

The Oak Ridge section of ISA (Instrumentation, Systems, and Automation Society) has invited the IEEE East Tennessee Section to join them on Thursday, Oct. 25 for a luncheon tour of Tennessee Marbel in Friendsville, TN.

Who: Area Engineers, Technical Personnel and Facility & Plant Managers
What: ISA Oak Ridge Section Dinner* Meeting & Presentation
When: Thursday, October 25th – Luncheon + Tour
11:45-12:30 Lunch & Social; 12:30-1:30 Presentation and Tour
Where: 343 West Vinegar Road, Friendsville, TN 37737 (Google this)
Our Host: Mr. Gus Zacharias, Co-owner
And Joining Us: Society of Mfg. Eng’s. (SME) and Association of Facility Eng’s. (AFE)
And maybe some others (TBD).

Located in Friendsville, TN Tennessee Marble is the largest marble production facility in America. Tennessee Marble decorates virtually every historically significant building in the United States, including Grand Central Station and Central Park—both in N.Y. City, the Smithsonian Institute, etc. This gorgeous marble is available for local residential and commercial projects (including the new Howard Baker Center for Public Policy)…yet few locals are even aware of it.

PLAN TO ATTEND! PLEASE RSVP by calling 865-966-2141 or emailing Harry.Paris@member.isa.org.

11:15 Departures: Location 1 - from Kroger @ Pellissippi & Northshore (Knoxville),
Location 2 - from Wal-mart on Hwy 321 (Lenoir City), or
Location 3 - from Cracker Barrel (just South of McGhee Tyson Airport)
Anyone missing the group departure should Google the address for directions.
Parking: On site (Car-pooling is recommended!) Cost: $10 ea. STUDENTS EAT FREE.
FREE Meal for any guest(s) who join ISA at the meeting, AND
FREE Meal for 1 lucky attendee per meeting

Solar Summitt at ORNL

Please join Oak Ridge National Laboratory, the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, and other participating organizations in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, October 24-25, 2007, as we welcome the first Southeast Solar Summit to Tennessee. Join leading researchers, scientists, engineers, architects, designers, and other renewable energy professionals from around the southeast at this exciting program.

The summit consists of:
Invited high level plenary and keynote speakers
Oral presentations
Facilitated discussions
Exhibition
Technical tours (Near-Zero Homes, Buffalo Mountain Wind Farm, Spallation Neutron Source)

Learn more and register at http://www.ornl.gov/sci/solarsummit/

TechX2007

East Tennessee Technology Exchange http://techx2007.org/index.html is a day-long event featuring exhibits and educational sessions. A comprehensive and educationally-focused event, TechX2007 presents a unique hands-on opportunity to learn about the newest and most innovative technology solutions available from vendors and users. Hosted by the Innovation Valley Technology Council, it will bring national and local companies together to examine real-world applications and technology being used in unique and innovative ways. The event will be held on Oct. 23, 2007 at the Knoxville Marriott. General admission and breakfast are free. There is a charge for the luncheon. RSVP is required for breakfast and/or luncheon at 865-220-2020.

Agenda:

8:00 Opening Breakfast - "Emerging Trends in Information Technology," Terry Moore, Vice President & Executive Partner, Gartner, Inc.
9:00 Case Study I – "Mitigating Growth and Other Challenges in the Storage Environment," Bryan Moore, Manager - System Engineering, E.W. Scripps
10:00 Case Study II – Security, Sword & Shield Enterprise Security
11:00 Break
11:30 Navigator Awards & Keynote Luncheon - Peter Ungaro, CEO, Cray, Inc.
1:30 Case Study III – Wireless Deployment, Mike Ward, CIO & Sr. Vice President, Covenant Health
2:30 Case Study IV – Collaboration, Ken Hill, Vice President, CH2M Hill
3:30 Case Study V – Virtualization, Bill Dean, Covenant Health

Next Section Meeting on Oct. 17, 2007

The next meeting of the IEEE East Tennessee Section will be held on Wednesday, Oct. 17, 2007 at the Mandarin House Restaurant. A dinner buffet begins at 6PM followed by the speaker at 7PM. Reservations are required. Please RSVP on the section website at ieee.org/go/easttn. Directions to the Mandarin House Restaurant can be found on the RSVP page.The deadline for reservations is Monday, Oct. 15th.

SPEAKER: Stephen Levy
TOPIC: Solar Power for $1 per Watt

Where is the solar electricity that is ‘just around the corner’ and why has the cost not reached affordability after the technology has been around for the past 40 years? Well, it is at the level of commercialization of the automobile before Ford unveiled the model T. Just as Mr. Ford revolutionized the automobile industry in producing a reasonably priced car, we have the ability today to produce photoelectricity at a price that most everyone owning a home could consider. We can make it affordable at a dollar a watt installed today, if we had the leadership and capital to build factories that would produce 3.5 Gigawatts per year of panels per year. This was the conclusion of a study done for the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. The same order of magnitude cost for the solar panels are being predicted by others. My talk will discuss the basis for such a plan and the factors that must be realized in order to reach the cost goals. Reaching the goal price will create a world-wide market in the $100 Billion range.

Career Accelerator Forum: Career Security for Technology Professionals

Thursday, Oct 11, 2007
Noon ET / 9:00 PT
Duration: 4 hours

The IEEE Spectrum Autumn 2007 Online Career Accelerator Forum is a must-attend event for mid-level technology, engineers, and business executives seeking career changes, advancement into management roles, or a continuation onto graduate or post-graduate studies. This forum is a rare opportunity to hear the inside track on career opportunities in the medical/healthcare technology and computer security fields from leading experts, while networking with top educational institutions and career advisors to improve or change your professional direction.

Attendance is free. For more information or to sign up, please visit www.spectrum.ieee.org/caf.